Topic: HBO's A Song of Ice and Fire (Read 304708 times)

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #100 on:** 04 Mar 2011, 14:29 »

never read the books (they've long been on my list of things to read but never had time to make the commitment) but this still looks really great. I always though the series was more fantasy heavy for some reason but seems I was wrong.

IrrationalPie · « **Reply #101 on:** 21 Mar 2011, 02:12 »

Quote from: TheFuriousWombat on 04 Mar 2011, 14:29

never read the books

IrrationalPie · « **Reply #102 on:** 02 Apr 2011, 14:30 »

The critics are just getting sent their episodes 1-6 for reviewing purposes.

The first two reviews were positive :
Den of Geek Review

Hollywood Reporter Review

EDIT : Links fixed.

Dazed · « **Reply #103 on:** 02 Apr 2011, 14:38 »

Your links, they need help.

IrrationalPie · « **Reply #104 on:** 04 Apr 2011, 02:28 »

Did anyone else watch the 15 minute preview of the premiere?

I watched it and was impressed. It looks great, but 15 minutes is hardly enough to sell a show that complex.

We didn't even get to see my favorite character, Tyrion.

2 weeks to go . . . :[

Preview can be found here.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #105 on:** 04 Apr 2011, 09:53 »

oh man that looks cool!

scarred · « **Reply #106 on:** 04 Apr 2011, 17:36 »

I wonder of Catelyn is going to annoy me as much on film as she does on paper.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #107 on:** 04 Apr 2011, 21:10 »

She's annoying to me up until she just becomes horribly, horribly frightening.

Alex C · « **Reply #108 on:** 05 Apr 2011, 12:16 »

Eh, I'll never think of Eddard as stupid. More like Kant with a bitchin' sword.

SirJuggles · « **Reply #109 on:** 05 Apr 2011, 12:59 »

Dangit I do not have time to read all these bloody books but these characters sound so freakin interesting.

Tom · « **Reply #110 on:** 05 Apr 2011, 13:28 »

Quote from: Alex C on 05 Apr 2011, 12:16

Eh, I'll never think of Eddard as stupid. More like Kant with a bitchin' sword.

He had integrity, such a trait would have continued to make him even a greater danger/threat to Lancaster machinations.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #111 on:** 05 Apr 2011, 13:41 »

to Cersei's and her father's machinations anyway.

IrrationalPie · « **Reply #112 on:** 05 Apr 2011, 17:41 »

Quote from: Tom on 05 Apr 2011, 13:28

Quote from: Alex C on 05 Apr 2011, 12:16
Eh, I'll never think of Eddard as stupid. More like Kant with a bitchin' sword.

He had integrity, such a trait would have continued to make him even a greater danger/threat to Lancaster machinations.

Lot of good that did him. Too much honor is just as bad as too little. It bordered on stupidity.

Alex C · « **Reply #113 on:** 05 Apr 2011, 18:48 »

Morality isn't just about doing what's best for you. It wasn't just honor that kept Eddard from doing what was best for himself-- hell, you could argue that as a man of the kingdom honor dictated he act faster-- but a bit of pity. You can call it stupid, if you like, but it's still the Cersei Lannisters of the world that make the world a shitty place, not the Starks.

IrrationalPie · « **Reply #114 on:** 05 Apr 2011, 20:43 »

As much as I dislike Cersei, she really didn't do anything that endangered the realm.

Anything she ever plots or schemes is done in self-defense or defense of her children.

Alex C · « **Reply #115 on:** 05 Apr 2011, 21:45 »

The lengths she goes to cannot really be excused, however. This is in part a matter of means and ends. Some people value the means as much as the end; Eddard Stark is one of them. Enough happens that he is no longer willing to bear the sacrifices that come along with such beliefs but that's not the same thing as being outright stupid.

Border Reiver · « **Reply #116 on:** 06 Apr 2011, 13:08 »

Quote from: SirJuggles on 05 Apr 2011, 12:59

Dangit I do not have time to read all these bloody books but these characters sound so freakin interesting.

Start with the first one - they are interesting, and you may even get a good part of the book completed before the series starts.

FIXDIX · « **Reply #117 on:** 06 Apr 2011, 23:59 »

Quote from: tuathal on 06 Apr 2011, 04:27

Essentially Robb is made a king because Cersei got his father killed, I don't know how that's not manipulating the situation in self-defence.

Damn dawg, spoilers, y'know?

Tom · « **Reply #118 on:** 07 Apr 2011, 00:28 »

I've only read A Game of Thrones, I've had ample time to catch up to everyone else. Spoilers are to expected and I have no right to complain.

FIXDIX · « **Reply #119 on:** 08 Apr 2011, 21:39 »

Yeah, felt a little bad after posting that.

Plus you fucks should have read all the books by now.

cyro · « **Reply #120 on:** 09 Apr 2011, 02:14 »

Quote from: Tom on 05 Apr 2011, 13:28

He had integrity, such a trait would have continued to make him even a greater danger/threat to Lancaster machinations.

*Lannister.

You may not want to get those two confused.

Tom · « **Reply #121 on:** 09 Apr 2011, 02:20 »

Damn you, auto-correct!

IrrationalPie · « **Reply #122 on:** 15 Apr 2011, 15:19 »

Two freaken days!

@82 on Metacritic atm.

Tom · « **Reply #123 on:** 15 Apr 2011, 15:43 »

I'm going to have to abstain (from this and the Killing) until Wednesday arvo otherwise I will not get any study done on Monday for the rest of my mid-sems.

Alex C · « **Reply #124 on:** 17 Apr 2011, 19:38 »

Damn. I was hoping they'd pare down on the nudity some, given that I have family who I think would like the series otherwise.

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #125 on:** 18 Apr 2011, 02:41 »

we so excited

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #126 on:** 18 Apr 2011, 10:13 »

Okay so I found this to actually to be pretty generic and I guess I just didn't realize about HBO but man they had me thinking "Oh yeah, there were a lot of those uncomfortable nude scenes in the book".

I'm kind of disappointed? Like, I feel like its a show I can watch for something to watch but I dunno, I'm just feelin' meh about it.

Alex C · « **Reply #127 on:** 18 Apr 2011, 10:45 »

I'm just trying to keep in mind that the advance reviews indicated that the first episode is the weakest. I can believe it since they had an awful lot to establish just to get to the cliffhanger that starts the story proper. That's kinda why I find myself pointing at the nudity as the single biggest issue I have, since the rest of the stuff isn't really something you can tinker with short of tossing out characters entirely. And really, I think the issue for me was not so much the nudity itself but the way the scenes they were in made for some weird tonal shifts now and again. For example, they cut from Tyrion jokes & giggling whores to solemn dudes in mourning at one point. You have to be careful with that shit given that in the books it's generally easier to pad a transition.

Boro_Bandito · « **Reply #128 on:** 18 Apr 2011, 10:54 »

Like, even that aside, I couldn't help but giggle a bit at the whole like Khal Drogo/ Daenerys stuff because they just looked ridiculous. Drogo had more eye makeup than an entire emo band and every time they cut to Daenerys she just had this "staring off into the sunset" look that literally me and my friends started laughing at.

Alex C · « **Reply #129 on:** 18 Apr 2011, 12:40 »

The Dothraki stuff and the Daenerys plot line have long been one of my least favorite parts of the series for a number of reasons. It takes Martin's "Women have little overt power in low fantasy settings" theme and doubles up the awkward with a bunch of Noble Savage archetypes to boot. I mean, having the super exotic guy bed the crying lily white girl and not touching the plot again before the end of the episode is a rough hand to deal new viewers. It's one of those cases where even as I read the book I was beating my head against an entire wall of subtext. So I can't help but wonder what people who are new to the series think given that there's already a whole shit ton of other things for them to try to keep straight.

That, and yeah, shit looked silly.

Tom · « **Reply #130 on:** 18 Apr 2011, 13:21 »

It wasn't until later into Game of Thrones that Daenerys started to get less passive. Maybe this is just their way of showing it.

Alex C · « **Reply #131 on:** 18 Apr 2011, 13:31 »

Yeah, but it's a George RR Martin book. That happens like, a half million pages later.

the_pied_piper · « **Reply #132 on:** 18 Apr 2011, 14:12 »

I'd agree that the nudity is definitely one of the more silly issues from this first episode but the main problem is that they really flew through a lot of text in just 1 episode and so much was cut out. The prologue scene was probably my favourite part but the scene where they found the direwolves was just so odd as that was pretty much as far from the actual text as it could have been. Even with these flaws I'd say that plenty of performances shone through; Tyrion, Jaime, Ned, Robb and Jon were all great but Cersei is going to bug the hell out of me, she just wasn't crazy enough, really. Viseris was also excellent, there was that real danger that he could change his mood in an instant but Daenarys being naked for pretty much 90% of the time she was on screen was just silly.

As an aside because this really is nitpicking but Magister Illyrio is supposed to be fat as a whale. Roger Allam is a great actor and a good choice but there are pretty much only 2 parts to Illyrio's character; he is absurdly rich and just as absurdly fat.

Alex C · « **Reply #133 on:** 18 Apr 2011, 14:34 »

Quote from: tuathal on 18 Apr 2011, 13:46

That only lasts a few chapters though.

Yeah, but she only -has- a few chapters. Beyond that, her overt power is a straight up exception to the rule and the way Martin demonstrates that fact is by first making her a pawn before making her a player in her own right. Anyway, perhaps it's not entirely fair but first impressions can count for a lot and I think it's fair to say that the book and the TV series both start her out in a rather pitiful situation. And barring an overt acceleration of her storyline (which I admittedly think is likely, all things considered), this will be the last audiences will see of her character for quite a while.

scarred · « **Reply #134 on:** 18 Apr 2011, 20:49 »

A pilot episode is by no means the way to judge a series. Usually pilots are terrible (with the exception of The Walking Dead, among others) but the shows themselves end up really good along down the line (with the exception of The Walking Dead, among others). I think it shows promise (though it wasn't great by any means). But, like what's been said, they had an awful lot of backstory and framing to establish. I almost feel like they should've started the show with a proper standard TV double episode (around 90 minutes).

Tom · « **Reply #135 on:** 19 Apr 2011, 00:29 »

Tod VanDerWerff, in his review over at the AV Club added the disclaimer that: "the grade is for the pilot episode only."

scarred · « **Reply #136 on:** 19 Apr 2011, 01:10 »

Just read that review. The AV Club and I generally agree a fair amount of the time, so I'm excited for this kit n' caboodle to get going.

KvP · « **Reply #137 on:** 19 Apr 2011, 12:03 »

As per the HBO standard, Game of Thrones has been picked up for a second season after a strong showing for the first ep.

Hopefully it doesn't turn out as boring as Boardwalk Empire!

richlitt · « **Reply #138 on:** 21 Apr 2011, 11:32 »

I've been pretty involved with watch the series advertisements and production develop, and I really don't think that the pilot is going to be representory of the show. Aside from the good points above, they needed to introduce a ton of characters (and that's just going to get worse.) I think they did pretty good with what they had, at the moment - part of the joy of this series is watching the characters really develop, and I think it's going to be the same with the series.

As far as finding the wolves go, you're right that that was a bit far from the books. But it's more the tone, than anything else. GRRM himself admitted that he's gotten letters from fans saying "That horse should be black," and he just had to say that it didn't really matter to him. It's about the setting and the themes - and HBO have shown that they may be capable of portraying those well. The detail was certainly breathtaking.

Anyway. looking forward to next week.

Lines · « **Reply #139 on:** 22 Apr 2011, 11:29 »

I don't mind spoilers, but I know not everyone likes them. Use spoiler tags when talking about the book?

Edit: Why don't they work now??

the_pied_piper · « **Reply #140 on:** 22 Apr 2011, 14:21 »

Because people can't be trusted with nice things.

sean · « **Reply #141 on:** 22 Apr 2011, 15:37 »

wait the spoiler tags are gone>

thank god

Lines · « **Reply #142 on:** 22 Apr 2011, 18:56 »

Hey! Those are actually really useful when they are used for what they were made for! Bring them back.

:c

IrrationalPie · « **Reply #143 on:** 24 Apr 2011, 23:19 »

The second episode of GoT was much better than the first.

Somethings to note :
- Maisey Williams' (Arya) acting was amazing.
- Lady's scene :[
- The assassination scene seemed a bit off when the killing element was introduced (trying to keep this somewhat spoiler free)
- Again, much better than the first episode

Tom · « **Reply #144 on:** 16 May 2011, 03:16 »

This series keeps getting better. All the invented stuff this week was fantastic except for the Theon one which, even with wang was totally forgettable. Oh and the Aerie was absolutely stunning.

Gregor Clegane is a real bad dude.

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #145 on:** 16 May 2011, 07:08 »

that picture is upsetting.

richlitt · « **Reply #146 on:** 16 May 2011, 10:39 »

Great, now I'm eternally going to think of Gregor Clegane as Kurtz.

Not that GoT isn't that far away from Heart of Darkness.

StaedlerMars · « **Reply #147 on:** 16 May 2011, 15:33 »

I never thought of Renly and Loras as gay, but now that I think about it, yes.

Tom · « **Reply #148 on:** 16 May 2011, 17:31 »

I've only read the 1st book, do they get gayer?

Dazed · « **Reply #149 on:** 16 May 2011, 18:50 »

In that they are gay and everyone knows it, yes.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: HBO's A Song of Ice and Fire (Read 304708 times)